Dew Control on Refractors

[sharpiel]

Hello all.

Recently bought myself a wonderful Tak TOA130. Absolutely love this fine instrument.

With the coming on of autumn and winter I wondered if anyone had experiences to share with regards to dew control on refractors?

I have the Kendrik Digifire 7 controller with OTA and finder heater strips for my 12" LX200.

Is dew control necessary through winter on refractors? Intend to use my TOA for both visual and photographic work all year round including the colder months. Would love to hear any experiences from Tak owners and other refractor owners.

[pluto]

I have the basic Kendrick dual channel controller and two firefly straps for the ota and finder. I put the straps around the tubes right at the front elements and they seem to do the job. I've had nights where by the end everything has been drenched in dew but the glass is still dry. Conversely, before I got the dew heaters/controller I had a few nights that were cut very short as a result of dew.

Congrats on the Tak :D

[RB]

What a wonderful scope the TOA 130 is, congrats you'll love it.
I always use dew straps and controller on mine, I highly recommend it.

Andrew.
:)

[RB]

Oh forgot to mention I use the Dewbuster.
I have a couple actually, so I can use on my other scope too.

http://www.dewbuster.com/index.html

RB

[MattT]

Put on a long dew shield. I put a 450mm long one on my 150mm f12 refractor with no dew problems to date. UK refractor users tell me that dew won't be a problem ever again with the long shield. Uses zero battery power and helps a huge amount with stray light too.
Matt

[pfitzgerald]

+1 for the Kendrick, zero problems with dew since I started using it.

Paul

[sharpiel]

Hey all. Thanks for the feedback. Looks like a dew controller will definitely be the way to go with the old manual longer dew shield for when power isn't an option.

Andrew, how long have you had your TOA? How much do you absolutely love it? And what do you have it mounted on? I'm in the market for a forever mount for mine, but it has to be transportable so that my GF and I can road trip around Australia and take OTA and mount with us for some quality visual and photographic results. So it can't be too bulky to transport, can't be to heavy to set up/break down and can't be too expensive.

Thoughts anyone else?

[RB]

Les I absolutely love my TOA 130, have a look through my signature to see how much fun I've had.
I bought it with an EM200 (package deal) back in 2007 or 2008, very easy to transport, same wonderful TAK quality with the wooden tripod.
I store the mount in a Pelican Case, so easy to transport.

Andrew